If you dive into the decan and dwaad calendar without knowing how to read it, remember that old saying, “When in doubt, read the instructions.” So read the following instructions carefully, and refer to them whenever you feel muddled.
This chapter will provide a listing or “calendar” of all the sun signs, Aries through Pisces. If you know your sun sign (and most of us do), go to that calendar and go to the bottom row to find your month and day of birth (the year is not important in this method). Using the instructions that follow, you will be able to find the decan and dwaad for your sun sign.
Once you have found the decan and dwaad for your sun sign, make a note of them, then find the chapter on your sun sign and read through that, plus the relevant decan and dwaad information that you will find at the end of the chapter.
If you want to know more about the signs that your decan and dwaad occupy, treat them as sun signs and read the relevant chapters. For example, if you turn up a Leo dwaad, read the chapter for Leo as a sun sign. You can get even more information if you look up the gender, element, and quality of the decan or dwaad that you wish to investigate, in chapter 17, which cover those topics.
If you know the exact position of your Ascendant, you will find its attributes covered in this book as well. For any planet or any other feature that you wish to look at, read through the chapter on the gender, element, and quality of whatever decan or dwaad sign you are investigating, and also read through the sun sign chapter that relates to the zodiac sign in question. For instance, for a planet in a Virgo dwaad, read the Virgo sun sign section.
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This calendar is a two-tier system that I have designed for use either by total beginners or by astrologers. You will find two calendars for each sign (see the examples shown below); the first gives you decans and dwaads by date and the second by degree. If you are a beginner, use the calendar for your sign that goes by date rather than by degree.
Note that in both calendars, you will read the information from the bottom upward.
The second calendar for each sign is suitable for those of you who have a natal chart at hand and who know how to read it. This shows the picture for your sign by degree and it works in exactly the same way as the date calendar.
You will notice that between each sun sign calendar there is a “gap” of 2–3 days and 2–3 degrees. This represents the “cusp” of your sun sign, The cusp is an imaginary border between two sun signs, the beginning and end of each sign. In this time (and degree) period, your sun sign is considered to be influenced by its neighboring sign. If your birthday, for example, falls on April 18 or 19 (making you an Aries), you will want to read all of the information about Taurus, because the energy of that sign will influence your own.
